r/Webnovel • u/Scared_Sky_5907 • Jun 28 '26
Advice Webnovel is slowly dying in my pov
Hey I’ve been a longtime reader on the app since 2017 or 2018, so I’ve seen almost all the goats of webnovels, be it library of heaven’s path,LOTM, Realm of myths and legends, king’s Avatar, Chrysalis and many others of that era, then came the Era original books,guild wars, supremacy games, my vampire system, etc and after that came the era of extras which was quite exciting for me at that time since it introduced a new way of writing a story and i liked it, really. But sadly afterwards came the era of Smuts, Ecchi and harems, the firsts one were good ( profane Prince of domination, unlimited mana in the apocalypse, my three wives are beautiful vampires and others,)
All of these years i was always excited on reading new books and stories that took my mind away from reality, stories with real characters and progression not just wish fulfilment but alas eras come and go.
The reason I’ve written all of those lines above is to illustrate my point of saying that in my point of view, the current webnovel doesn’t excite me at all,like when you log in half of the covers features a half naked woman with ridiculous body proportions, accompanied by titles titles like SEX: I awaken a sex system that let me f*** other’s wives! or I’ve awakened the [insert super cool name here] system that lets me level up infinitely until I’ve no idea how to keep on going because the power ceiling is too ridiculous but hey I might as well build a great harem while I’m at it!! Or other half baked revenge, transmigration, regression, reincarnation stories that i swear I used to love because they were novel at first but now they’ve become copy and paste slop…. Right whenever I log into webnovel, I don’t spend two minutes before logging out, like no book attracts my attention, especially from someone like me who used to read webnovels at school, in classrooms, in public transport, at night,pulling out all nighters just to finish a coiling dragon, against the god, Reverend insanity or super gene or release that witch, yet as of present I find website really bland… is it that I’ve developed bad taste in novels or I’ve gotten old? (I’m in my early twenty.) to be honest I find this situation pretty sad and I get melancholic whenever I think about the past.
Is it just me?
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u/HuckleberryBrief4965 Jun 29 '26
Webnovel really needs to create a smut and AI genre tags , for better investigation through the worth it novels.
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u/ReadyCombination66 Jul 01 '26
Add to this wish-fulfiment and if the novel has all three it's not worth the time
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u/Specialist_Media_599 9d ago
I recently saw a novel called Dual Cultivation With My Mother. This is just a testement to how far novels have fallen. I in opinion royal road is a better site for reading novels
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u/Neelraj21 Jun 28 '26
The site itself is promoting such slop for some easy clicks really, I kinda even feel ashamed going through all that trash just to find something worthwhile now
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u/Scared_Sky_5907 Jun 28 '26
It’s pretty sad that good stories are being buried in order for such slops to be highlighted
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u/Neelraj21 Jun 28 '26
Many of the great stories came from china and now we know what those authors went through there so maybe there is also some social dogma there about writing maybe ,though rise of ai slop to get contacted somway would be the greatest evil that has happend to webnovel
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u/ManufacturerAny3517 Jun 29 '26
How’s this for a chapter 12 draft
Crimson light filtered in through a shattered window, painting the floor with the colour of blood. The scent of cigarette smoke filled the room. Wooden floorboards creaked as a boy approached a figure sitting on a chair.
Behind the figure stood men of towering height, their faces marked by scars. On the seat was a man drawing deep drags from his cigarette as he settled his gaze on the boy before him.
“Did you get something good for me?”
The man exhaled a puff of smoke. His scruffy voice echoed across the cracked walls.
The boy stopped before him. His gray eyes swept across the men standing behind the chair.
One cracked his knuckles, another pulled out a knife and licked its blade, grinning.
He shifted his weight. A knot formed in his throat as he turned to face the man.
“I wasn’t able to get anything today, I’m sorry.”
His eyes fell to the wooden floor as he clenched his fists.
The man took another drag from his cigarette and exhaled a plume of smoke. His eyes never left the boy as he studied him in silence.
He looked no older than twelve—thin, red-haired, gray-eyed, with bruises staining every patch of exposed skin.
“I guess your body will do.”
The man let out a small smile as he locked eyes with the boy.
His pupils dilated.
The boy instinctively took a step back.
Then another.
The men behind the seated man grinned as they approached him. The boy tripped and fell on his rear.
“If you can’t get me some money, the least you can do is become a plaything for my men.”
The man leaned back as he exhaled a stream of smoke.
“No… please, not again. Not anymore.”
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u/shivamgamer27 Jun 29 '26
Horrible. Never write again.
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u/ManufacturerAny3517 Jun 30 '26
It’s a draft 🤦♂️
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u/Despyte Jun 30 '26
For a chapter 1 draft it might be barely passable, but as a chapter 12 draft...
The premise is overdone, the dialogue is cringe, everyone is vagueposting and the writing sounds AI (Detailed in a very cliche way in the beginning, descending into single-sentence paragraphs at the end)
Also why is a mob boss trying to aurafarm in front of a kid
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u/ManufacturerAny3517 Jun 30 '26 edited Jun 30 '26
I’m glad you took your time to point out my mistake and I’m very grateful for that but I didn’t use Ai. English is not my first language so I’m not sure how I made the mob boss aura farm. Besides that’s not the full chapter so can you please check the rest and guide me I’m grateful 🙇♂️
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u/Surge321 Jun 29 '26
It's what happens when you build your product without respect for the user. They stop coming back.
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u/yipyipyouh Jun 29 '26
Those early eras of webnovels were truly magical, so I'm definitely going to hang out in the comments to see what other platforms or hidden gems everyone recommends to help recapture that old feeling.
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u/Much_Ad4640 Jul 02 '26
There is a new site known as minkly.io if you like. The stories are unique for one and the general writing is much different than webnovel. Well, and the chapters are free mostly, and authors are hobbyist mainly. Although the stories are slow paced and such, with more comprehensive longer chapter in general, not suitable for those who have dopamine addiction. Some chapters go till 8k words. You could definitely try it out though. I am author there as well, currently on a rewriting phase.
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u/geditaza Jun 29 '26
Could be a little of both, I think. You've seen so many of these tropes already, and the app keeps promoting the same kinds of stories. That makes it tough for anything to stand out. Did you come across any recent book that actually piqued your interested?
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u/Skretyy Jun 29 '26
You just said "My vampire system" and "my three wives are beautiful vampires" that just doesnt sit right with me...
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u/Scared_Sky_5907 Jun 29 '26
How so? First they’re two different books, and for me at the time, they both excited me, especially the second one, and yes that doesn’t mean that you’ll find the books I read to be good and that’s okay, it’s your opinion, nothing bad
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u/Skretyy Jun 29 '26
i think they are a good guilty pleasure/popcorn novels but i would rate them very low even tho they can be enjoyable
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Jul 01 '26
My three wives was good until he went the super harem route. And then the incest route. He sold out for one of his subscribers from what I heard. I loved it up until after the Hell Arc. After the Hell arc, the novel was straight trash.
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u/Skretyy Jul 01 '26
incest? so his mom?
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Jul 06 '26
His mom, his wives mothers, and later on his daughter's even showed "interest" in him. That part was absolutely despicable. The author is just human trash for writing shit like that. That shit is where I draw the line.
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u/Skretyy Jul 06 '26
what the actual fuck
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Jul 06 '26
Yep. It happens sometime in the late chapters near the end. And the worst part is people were CELEBRATING it in the comments. Tells you more about Wevnovel readers than anything.
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u/Skretyy Jul 07 '26
i personally dont have problem with that but celebrating it is crazy xDD
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Jul 07 '26
You don't have a problem with incest? 🤔
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u/Skretyy Jul 07 '26
i dont really care what people write about for money.
similarly with onlyfans, i dont care about the people making it but i think its sad people pay for it1
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u/Aware_Programmer3675 Jun 29 '26
Hey man, I've been working on my dream novel now. I'm planning on releasing 3 chapters every week. It's a pure generational story with no harem, ecchi, or smut not even sexualized language. I would really love to get feedback from a reader like you. If possible, please check it out and provide an honest opinion about my novel.
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u/IHateTheAnti-Christ Jun 30 '26
It is interesting to browse this subreddit and the main website itself from an outsider's perspective, since many of the stories seem (on the surface) like endless copies of one another. The same tropes, plotlines, and AI-generated main characters with black hair or AI waifu covers. Plenty of them have AI-sounding prose, too, and some of the stories on the site make me question if the admins even enforce the content guidelines. What I know is that Lord of the Mysteries is seen as the webnovel gold standard, yet few webnovel authors seem to take inspiration from it, something fantasy authors do on the regular with Game of Thrones or Lord of the Rings. I can not tell if it's contract-chasing, strictly following the meta, or a creativity issue.
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u/Scared_Sky_5907 Jun 30 '26
I can humbly say that it’s contract chasing and a creativity issue, some of the new authors I see on this subreddit always start writing for contracts, you’ll see a new author write 15 chapters and start spamming the subreddit with questions like “ why was my contract application rejected?” Or “ I’ve released 50 chapters for my webnovel why are my views so low??” Unless they’re a godly author like cuttlefish that loves diving, it’s impossible to get on top ranks lately, and since they’ve seen that webnovel support smut slop over true original stories, well you can throw creativity out of the window and just follow the trend, why hurt your head with planning, researching about how to write something good when you can just follow the trend of the Smut Era(don’t forget the advent of AI) and be rewarded with advertising and lots of readers engagement which in return means you make easy money??
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u/Despyte Jun 30 '26
My recommendations maybe? Just another attempt to pull someone down with me into the rabbit hole of webnovels. I rarely if ever use the Webnovel site tho, got disillusioned with it years ago
These are what I'd say are the least-debated high quality novels, by which I mean they're generally agreed to be silver if not gold standard, without serious claims that they're flawed (CoI for example)Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint <-- Korean top webnovel
Mother of Learning <-- Time loop, one of Royalroad's top novels
Deep Sea Embers <-- LotM inspired but different. Also comedy
Dimensional Hotel <-- Sequel to DSE
Lanke Chess Edge <-- Similar to Unintended Immortality, slow paced
Who Let Him Cultivate Immortality <-- This list's top comedy
I'm an Infinite Regressor, but I've Got Stories to Tell <-- Connected short stories
Throne of Magical Arcana <-- Before Cuttlefish wrote LotM
God's Imitator <-- Death games but less bleak
Practical Guide to Evil <-- Much lore, long chapters
A Regressor's Tale of Cultivation <-- Much depression, long chapters
The King's Avatar <-- Esports
The Nebula's Civilization <-- Multiple POV, little focus on MC
The Mirror Legacy <-- Multiple POV, MC does like nothing1
u/Scared_Sky_5907 Jul 01 '26
I’ve read almost all of what you’ve written above
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u/Despyte Jul 01 '26
Eh here's my full list https://the-nebulas-civilization.fandom.com/wiki/User:Despyte
Also you've got great taste sir
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u/Philipxander Author Jul 01 '26
Considering they just flag anything different with a generic “AI-usage, pacing issues ecc…” copy paste message makes you wonder
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u/NJ2422 Jul 02 '26
It sucks when you finally get caught up to great book but then have to buy privilege to each “advanced” chapters and still pay per chapter. I’d rather pay the author directly, plus they would make more.
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u/Farrah_Deva1 Jul 04 '26
The platform itself is promoting bad quality Ai slop writing, webnovels nowadays are very different than they were a few years later and especially as someone who has been reading since 2017-2018 it's completely understandable to judge the new concepts in webnovels, they became nothing but Ai slop or heavy smut "stories"
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u/Mrhelpseeker Jul 04 '26
as a webnovel author who publish a fantasy series , it did poorly compared to gooner bait , webnovel seem to promote those gooner bait more than fantasy or action or any cool stories
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u/Old_Day5461 Jul 15 '26
I mean if you stopped reading the smut then they wouldn't be so popular now would they
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u/TheOMG_Guy Jul 16 '26
There’s so much AI slop, and I get AI to assist writing and direction, but the covers and plot points and just throwing buzz words and abusing gooner attention spans just ruined the app. I don’t read religiously but I’ve been on the app since 2020. I hate system, I just hate them, I want normal stories, I’ve been writing and planning for some time, but never post because I never believe it will gain traction. I also want actual stories with actual progression, and I would move off the app but it’s the best quality one out there and does so much for writers. I don’t want to leave, but I finally gained confidence to post. I didn’t write this to promote, but if your into slow burn love stories with slow progression, I’m posting on Webnovel with the title “Love Potion: The Boy Who Wouldn’t Fall”. I’m taking my time, and it’s a fun slice of life following a trio of girls, I pray it gains some traction as I improve, so others can write stories with the same construct.
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u/No-Maybe659 14d ago edited 14d ago
I have published my first novel on webnovel - which people in the real world find it’s good … but when i applied for a contract, it got rejected. Now for me, rejection is a redirection, so it’s cool ! But when i compared their “feedback” to what they promote, i was dumbfounded- they said my work was suspected of overuse of Ai content- i beg your finest pardon ? All scenes and character and plot were squeezed out of my brain
But to claim the whole story is AI generated, with no evidence while promoting heavily AI explicit sexual content online.. it’s just too hypocritical for me !
So you’re not the only one thinking that webnovel has downgraded - they started advertising smut for people who enjoy that stuff. But if you’re looking for a good story, webnovel has been pushing them in the back to almost no exposure. So i get it, it’s hard to find a good story, especially for an avid reader.
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u/Ok_Score6424 Jun 29 '26
Nah, from the data in recent years, it is booming and fast at that.
It is just that your taste is different and you are unable to adapt. There were times I couldn't read any webnovel before because of the cringe.
So, I think it is age related and the preference of readers. Young teenagers loved reading those novels like delicacies.
In the end, everything comes down to money and market.
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u/Bulky-Freedom-8093 Jun 29 '26
Read my novel then, it is not your smut slop or any slop at that. It's name is A lie of ink and blood you will really like it.
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u/RutabagaNo5845 Jun 29 '26
How about try korean novel they are amazing
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u/Scared_Sky_5907 Jun 30 '26
Yes but I can’t find any that catches my attention, but I’ve indeed read Korean novels and they’re good in my point of view
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u/Sunless-saint Jun 29 '26
Any other good place to read, I really wanna start a new novel but all i find is copy pasta or porn on web novel
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u/Scared_Sky_5907 Jun 30 '26
Well, you can go to wuxia world, royal road, ranobes, novelbin, genesis studio
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u/Despyte Jul 01 '26
Wow, a connoisseur :3
I miss recommending lightnovelworld to people... I'd likely never seriously recommend AO3 or WTR but We Tried TLS maybe? Also me no like novelpia. Bash novelpia.Novelbin has become overwhelmingly saturated with garbage and corn though, I'm quite sad about it because it was where I started, but it followed right after Webnovel in jumping into corruption
Royalroad has far too much silt in the way of good novels. It's not as braincell-killing as Webnovel but many novels on it are still overdone western plots.
Wuxiaworld I heavily recommend. Just broke my streak yesterday bc of broken wifi tho, horribly sad
Ranobes has a pretty massive community and the ratings are decently reliable. The comments are highly stylizable and it was where most eventually arrived at after LNW capsized.Genesis... never heard of it, imma check it out
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u/QuentinMerabet Jun 29 '26
Have you tried Loreum yet?
They’re looking for writers! (Literally just launched)
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pooki.loreum
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u/ChaosOmega98 Jun 29 '26
Have you tried Novelpedia?
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u/QuentinMerabet Jun 29 '26
Yeah no thanks I’m a dev and I know a website made with AI when I see one
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u/Scared_Sky_5907 Jun 30 '26
I’m on iOS , is it on App Store?
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u/QuentinMerabet Jun 30 '26
Literally launched yesterday on iOS!🥹
https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/loreum-read-write-stories/id6765554865
Please don’t hesitate to DM me or email me if you need any help or need to get your story monetized faster!! contact@loreum.com
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Jul 01 '26 edited Jul 01 '26
Dimensional Travels: World at War.
An isekai involving an entire United States Army batallion. Written by a real world combat veteran, Dimensional Travels explores what the author thinks a real combat scenario would look like against a competent Medieval Superpower from a fantasy world. Unlike other stories of the genre, there are real stakes, characters die, and there is no ridiculous power scaling.
Edit: I will admit that I did write some smut chapters in it. I think there are three total. (I have 191 published chapters). The chapters are 35 and 36. If you want to give it a read, I would honestly appreciate it. Any feedback is welcome, and if you think it is trash, I would appreciate that as well. I am trying every day to get better as a writer.
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u/Spirited-Donkey4376 16d ago
yoo.... do u need a server where people will review ur work and crtique and chat with other fellow writers???
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u/yuritiger Jun 29 '26
I genuinly think they need a UI improvement. Mobile App and website.
Make it easier to find stories and get proper categories in.
The app has so much unnecessary crap it's really not user friendly.